


A Heart Broken Through Time

by NotoriouslyBlonde



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Victim Blaming, bodily horror, death of a major character in a different timeline, mentions of abuse, self deprecation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:20:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24494161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotoriouslyBlonde/pseuds/NotoriouslyBlonde
Summary: During a patrol, Bunnyx shows up through her time portal again, with a multiverse problem for them to fix. The last time this happened, Bunnyx just took Marinette with her, and she fought Chat Blanc. If Bunnyx needs both of them... then this must be much, much worse than any Chat Blanc.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 88





	A Heart Broken Through Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bugabisous (mariafernanda)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariafernanda/gifts).



> Hey all! I've had this in the works for a long, long while now. It was inspired by this prompt by bugabisious on tumblr! (https://bugabisous.tumblr.com/post/190298978092/ladybug-and-chat-noir-are-having-a-quiet-patrol)
> 
> I hope you all enjoy! (Sorry for the angst and the gore)
> 
> beta'd by the wonderful Ilenne!

_ ‘Flying over the rooftops is a surprisingly good way to unwind, no wonder Chat‘s out all the time!’ _ Marinette thinks as she soars over the roofs, the wind whipping past her ears, cooling her off while the physical exertion keeps her warm. 

She glances back, and Chat is just a few meters back, a huge grin on his face, his legs and arms moving so fast they almost blur together. Well, that’s what she thinks they would look like if she were a civilian, but since she also moves at insane speeds, her brain has adapted to function at higher speeds, so she can see his arms and legs just fine. 

The joy in his eyes and his stupidly happy grin is contagious. She can’t help but release a whoop of joy as she goes through another arc and launches herself through the air. She tucks into a ball and rotates to look at Chat. 

He’s looking at her with… adoration, and what’s that? Pink cheeks? Must be from the cold wind. He slams his staff behind him as he leaps after her, clearing just as much distance as she is, and when he lands, he doesn’t even break his stride. 

At the last second, she flings her yoyo out again, and as it latches onto a chimney, she pulls as hard as she can and flings her legs out in front of herself, just like she would do if she were on a swing. She flattens herself and she soars through the arc at the speeds cars go on the highway, if not faster. And just like always, Chat is right by her side. 

This has been one of the best nights Marinette has had in months. She has a feeling that she’ll sleep well tonight-

Suddenly, Chat’s body collides with hers, and they go slamming into a building, knocking the air out of them both. She’s about to fling him as hard as she can across the city when she sees that he isn’t even looking at her, but at a blue portal on the street. Poised directly where she would have swung through. 

Ice runs through her veins. The last time she saw this portal, she fought Chat Blanc. Her eyes slide over to her partner, safe and sound, crouching low, legs tense, one arm out, the other holding his baton that has been extended to full staff length. She breathes a small sigh of relief before her eyes widen. “If Bunnyx’s portal is here, that means that something bad has, is, or will happen. So where is she?”

Chat turns to her, brows furrowed before realization dawns on him and he slams a palm to his forehead. “I’m so stupid, I completely forgot that Bunnyx existed, I thought it was from an akuma!”

“Hey watch it, that’s my partner you’re talking about!” Marinette says, poking his chest. “Choose your next words carefully.”

This prompts a chuckle from Chat, and Marinete cracks a smile. 

“Now, where is she?”

“Minibug! Kitten! There you are! I’ve been looking for yo — ” Bunnyx drops down in front of them, making Chat jump with a yelp, his ears flattening and tail going straight. 

Bunnyx looks at them both, and Marinette looks to Chat. Red cheeks, slightly out of breath, hair more of a mess than usual, jumpy. She looks over to Bunnyx and quirks a brow at her raised eyebrows. Marinette opens her mouth to ask about the raised brows when it hits her. 

She must look similar to Chat. 

And they were pretty close together before Bunnyx appeared. 

And Chat jumped pretty bad when she did. 

_ ‘Nonononononononononononono’ _ , Marinette’s eyes widen in horror. She opens her mouth to say something about it, but Bunnyx speaks first. 

“Am I interrupting something?” Bunnyx is smug, but also implying something that Marinette does  _ not _ want to think about. 

“No!” she says, all too loud. “No, nothing going on here, Chat just got a bit spacey”

“Yeah, I kind of forgot you existed…” Chat hangs his head, ears no longer flat but droopy, he looks like a kicked kitten, but he is doing nothing to convince Bunnyx that there was no kissing, no making out, at all.

“Uh-huh, yeah, okay.” Bunnyx says, still smug, and very amused. “Totally believable. Anyway, we need to move,  _ now _ .”

And, without waiting for a response, Bunnyx grabs Chat by the collar and Marinette by the arm and drags them into the portal. 

Marinette braces herself for the incredible brightness inside the burrow, and when she recovers and looks over to Chat, she has to cover her mouth to stifle a giggle. He’s squinting his eyes mostly shut. 

“What’s going on?” Marinete asks. She hopes this isn’t a Chat Blanc level threat, she doesn’t know if she can handle something like that again. 

“Honestly, Minibug, I can’t explain.”

“What? Why?” 

Bunnyx stops and turns around, looking Marinette in her eyes. “Because even I don’t know what’s going on.” Bunnyx then turns around, and resumes dragging Marinette and Chat toward whatever Bunnyx needs them for. Leaving Marinette to be confused, and Chat even more confused. But for different reasons. He keeps looking around the burrow, trying to glean anything from the windows to other timelines.

Marinette keeps having to turn his head away and cover his eyes. But he keeps pushing her hands away from his face. 

...What happened to the metal bowl to go over curious visitor’s heads?

Marinette opens her mouth to ask this when Bunnyx comes to a stop at a time window. She turns around and looks at both of them. Marinette gives Bunnyx all her attention. Chat keeps sliding his gaze to the other time windows. 

After a few times snapping in front of Chat’s face, Bunnyx just grabs his chin and holds it steady. 

This does nothing to keep his eyes from wandering anywhere and everywhere. 

“Because I don’t know what’s going on, I need you two to go take care of this. I’m thinking that it’s a Chat Blanc level threat.” Bunnyx says, locking eyes with Chat. Chat raises his eyebrows, then looks to Marinette, confusion painfully clear, and a question written in his eyes.  _ ‘What’s a Chat Blanc? _ ’

She tries to convey to him  _ ‘I’ll explain later, but it’s bad’ _ , with her eyes. At his slight nod, and quirked ears, she can tell that he got the message and is asking  _ ‘How bad’ _ in response. 

She looks him in the eye, and memories of a white suit, ice blue energy disks, icy balls of destructive energy, and a deranged, crazy voice flash through her mind. She looks away. Chat Blanc was a different timeline, one that she fixed. But the memories… she still has nightmares about Chat Blanc. He was the most destructive akuma in the universe. The multiverse even! If this is on the same level of destruction… no wonder Bunnyx is scared. But… why both of them? Why not just get her, Ladybug, like she had last time?

She looks back to Chat, and going off his slightly more serious expression, she thinks that he got the message.

Marinette looks back to Bunnyx. The fear is clear in her eyes. “Why can’t you fix it? You are essentially the master of time with that miraculous, essentially the most powerful, why can’t you find out where it went wrong and fix it yourself?” 

Bunnyx rolls her eyes. “You think I haven’t tried that already? I can’t find what went wrong, something powerful is blocking a specific chunk of time from a specific timeline. It’s as if it’s been stolen from the Burrow; and others are going blank too.”

“This is called the Burrow?” Chat’s eyebrows raise, his pupils dilating. “That’s so cool! It’s like the Batcave!”

Bunnyx sighs, and her mouth moves slightly as if she’s saying something, but Marinette can’t hear it. Though, Chat’s ears perk up. She’ll ask Chat what he heard later. Bunnyx kneels down in front of her, giving her a confused look. “What makes you think I’m the most powerful miraculous wielder?” 

Marinette furrows her brows, looking at Bunnyx for a short period before reluctantly responding, “Because… you’re the last resort? Future Ladybug and Chat Noir only call on you to help in a battle if there is a major emergency… If  _ future us _ have a wielder as backup in case things go wrong, why would you not be the most powerful?”

Bunnyx shakes her head, and places a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “Minibug, if I were the wielder of the most powerful miraculous, do you really think I’d be recruiting you and Kitten here,” Bunnyx reaches out a hand, grabbing Chat by the chin and redirecting his gaze back to the conversation, without looking. He gives Marinette a sheepish grin, “to come fix this? Trust me, I’m not nearly powerful enough to deal with extinction level events as you two are at even your current level of experience.” Bunnyx turns her eyes to Chat, looking him in the eyes. Somehow, this makes Chat keep eye contact. At least until he nods and Bunnyx looks away, at which point he immediately starts struggling to not look around the Burrow again.

With a sigh, Bunnyx just grabs the metal bowl (It came from out of nowhere, Marinette has absolutely no clue where it came from, but she has learned not to question how the burrow works) and places it on top of Chat’s head. 

This doesn’t stop Chat from maneuvering around, trying to peek at the windows from under the rim of the bowl. 

Both women just sigh, then Bunnyx places a hand on the bowl and a small whine comes from under the bowl. 

Bunnyx shares an exasperated look with Marinette. _ ‘Does this happen a lot?’ _

Marinette shrugs. _ ‘It’s normal, you get used to it eventually.’ _

Bunnyx sighs. “Anyhow, the stolen time chunk, it comes from this timeline,” she points to a window a few meters above them, “From what I could see, an akuma alert went out. But it blanks out just before the akuma attack. I have no clue what is going on, but it’s causing trouble for the entire Burrow, affecting the other timelines, blocking out timelines altogether, stealing chunks of time.” Bunnyx pauses and looks over to Chat. “Stealing people.” Then she looks back to Marinette. “I need you to fix it.”

“How do you know  _ we  _ can even fix this?” Marinette asks, emphasizing the ‘we’, Chat is right there with them, he does just as much as she herself does.Then, she thinks more about the situation and her brain starts going into overdrive. If they can’t fix it, they could end up breaking time. Bringing about the collapse of the universe. Or, since they are going into this with very little information, they could be going up against an enemy that they aren’t prepared for in any way and her miraculous could be stolen, then Chat wouldn’t have any way of winning. She’d not only have let a timeline they aren’t even a part of create even more problems, but she’d also be dooming their original timeline. And it would be her fault. 

And…what if this  _ is _ another Chat Blanc situation? What if, when they go through the window, they’re met with another Chat Blanc. She can’t handle another Chat Blanc, she only just stopped having nightmares of his deranged, heartbroken singing. His expressionless face. The crazy mood swings. The powers he possessed. 

She’s woken up in a sheen of cold sweat, the last few moments of her nightmares still fresh, the way his hand was moving, the white, blinding flashes of destructive energy. The feel of losing her body. 

She can’t do that again. 

She won’t be able to fight Chat Blanc again.

_ ‘But you won’t be fighting him alone,’ _ a voice, one that sounds like her maman’s, says, spreading warmth throughout her body.  _ ‘You are never alone when Chat is with you. You are unbeatable with him by your side. You will never fall with him there to support you.’ _

Marinette looks over to Chat, just sitting on the ground, legs crossed, hands folded in his lap, but he’s still struggling against Bunnyx’s hold, trying to maneuver his head to an angle that will allow him to get a peek. She struggles to keep the smile creeping onto her lips at bay. Chat is such a dork, how does he even stay on task in his civilian life? 

If they do confront another Chat Blanc, as long as she has her kitty by her side, there is  _ no  _ way they can lose. He’s always been there to support her. Always. Unless he was incapacitated by the akuma. Which isn’t all entirely his fault. Even though he has had his temper tantrums, he’s always pulled through. 

Her heart rate slows down (when had it climbed to such scary levels?!), and a warm smile spreads over her lips. Whatever is behind this window, she and her kitty can handle it.

Before her thoughts can go any further, Bunnyx grabs Chat by the collar and pushes him through the window, metal bowl and all. Then, Bunnyx turns to her, gives her a nod, and gestures to the window. “Go save the day Ladybug.”

Marinette stands there, looking at Bunnyx, confusion on her face. That… that doesn’t sound right… 

She isn’t the only one who saves the day, she couldn’t do  _ any _ of this without Chat. 

She wouldn’t have been able to do any of it, from the beginning, if it weren’t for Chat.

“...Right,  _ Chat _ and I will, we won’t fail.” and with that, Marinette walks through the window. 

She closes her eyes to brace for the blinding white, but when she opens her eyes, she sees… nothing out of the ordinary. The world seems to be slightly darker? Grieving? The buildings are all upright, the city isn’t flooded, The moon isn’t broken. 

This… this doesn’t look right. 

Then, Marinette sees Chat. He’s on the ground, sitting there, the bowl has been haphazardly thrown off, and there’s a person in red hugging him, just… cradling his head to their chest? 

Chat looks extremely uncomfortable, but also seems to be… leaning into the contact? 

_ ‘Is… is he… is he touch- no, nope, not gonna think about that now, we have someone to deal with first. Interrogation later.’ _

Marinette takes a step forward, unslinging her yo-yo.

At the sound, the person cradling Chat looks up, and Marinette falters a bit.  _ ’This person, this woman, she… she looks familiar.’ _

The woman stands up, moving to block Marinette from Chat,  _ her _ partner, and takes a power stance, a yoyo of her own, that looks to be scarlet and doesn’t have any spots on it, dropping and moving into an easy shield swing.

This woman is just a few centimeters taller than her. Her raven hair is in a braid that wraps around her head, her mask is a deep maroon, with big black dots around her eyes, and broken lines around the perimeter of the mask. Her eyes are a deep, dark blue. She’s wearing a black, skin tight suit, with a scarlet breastplate, forearm guards, gloves, shin guards and steel toed boots. She’s wearing a skirt that looks to be made of sheets of hardened leather like material, like the skirt Wonder Woman wears in that american superhero movie. But, this skirt is the same shade as her mask. 

She’s wearing a jacket that looks to be made of the same material as her warrior’s skirt, as well as the same shade. The sleeves come down to her elbows, and the jacket ends at just above the warrior’s skirt. 

The woman narrows her eyes at Marinette, and Marinette shrinks back just a bit as she registers the hate radiating from those frosty, deep, blue eyes. 

Then, something catches the light, and Marinette notices the woman’s earrings. 

The same earrings she’s currently wearing. 

The  _ Ladybug  _ Miraculous. 

This isn’t Chat Blanc.

This is  _ Ladybug _ akumatized. 

And this Ladybug really,  _ really _ doesn’t like her. 

Marinette shares a look with her partner, who seems to have come to the same conclusion. 

Then, determination flashes in his eyes. _ ‘We are going to save her, no matter what’ _ his eyes say. 

Marinette nods. She faced Chat Blanc, who had unlocked the full extent of the destructive capabilities of the Black Cat Miraculous and wasn’t able to control them, killed everyone in a 10+ kilometer radius, maybe even more, then had gone crazy due to his solitude and the guilt of killing everyone he loved. She wont let her future self go through more of this pain. 

Marinette nods to her partner, together, together they will help this Ladybug regain her life. 

She looks back to Akuma Ladybug. 

The frost in Akuma Ladybug’s eyes grows colder and a baton appears in her hand out of nowhere. 

Before Marinette can do anything, the akumatized Ladybug’s yo-yo slams into her sternum with enough force to send her flying off the edge of the roof, leaving her to scramble for an anchor point for her yo-yo. By the time she gets onto the roof of the building and looks to find Chat, she finds him just standing awkwardly, eyes wide, body stiff, as Akuma Ladybug envelopes him in another tight hug, and starts to move over a few rooftops. 

“This is going to be one weird fight.” Marinette grumbles to herself before launching off after her partner. 

* * *

All Alix can do is stare at the window, eyes wide, body frozen, jaw slack. 

This… this is catastrophic. 

Chat Noir being akumatized was terrifying all on its own, and this… Ladybug being akumatized… 

This is just as terrifying. 

Right in front of her eyes, a fully grown Ladybug, in a full blown Amazon Warrior suit, is fighting MiniBug, the Kitten already having been incapacitated. She’s screaming at Minibug for “letting him die”, her attacks wild and uncoordinated, but she’s dodging each and everyone of MiniBug’s counters. 

Alix stumbles back as a tremor blows through the Burrow, setting timelines to nothing but static. 

This can’t go on for much longer. She reaches out her hand, intent on watching what has happened, but pauses. 

This shouldn’t have been possible in the first place. Ladybug… a few years after the Miracle Queen incident, Ladybug unlocked enough of her powers to make herself completely immune to, not only akumatization both in and out of the suit, but the brainwashing effects from some akuma’s while transformed. 

...So did Chat Noir… 

So, adult Ladybug being akumatized. It’s impossible. 

… Unless… 

Unless Ladybug was akumatized as a child. But… That means… that would mean… but, that hasn’t ever happened before. Akuma’s don’t  _ age _ . 

Unless they’ve broken their connection with the butterfly wielder. 

Suddenly, the window shutters and bursts into static before jumping back to the akuma alert making Alix’s entire body go rigid, before immediately pulling every single muscle tense and dropping her to the ground, she immediately becomes completely and utterly aware of exactly what each and every part of her body is doing, where it is in the space around her, and how she can use it to her advantage. Her hearing spikes, and sounds from the timelines around her fill her ears, but she’s already going through every measure she has to search for any direct threat. Her entire body is at the perfect temperature, and her eyes are searching every nook and cranny they can find. 

When she finds no immediate threats, her body slumps into a heap on the ground, her breath coming in short bursts, and her body going slightly cold and numb, and her hearing and vision fading. 

It takes a few minutes to calm down, and when she does, she stands up, grumbling under her breath. “‘It’ll be fun!’ you said, ‘You’ll feel so powerful!’ you pushed, well guess what  _ Chat _ , it isn’t! Animal tendencies aren’t fun. You got off lucky with the  _ purring  _ and the other  _ cat stuff _ , but  _ me _ ?” she flings her arms into the air, “I got  _ heart attacks! _ ” Alix shakes her head, “Stupid cat, you’re lucky you’re important. Now… to see what went wrong.”

When she looks back to the window, she sees an older Chat Noir, who can’t be much more than a year older than the Kitten she just sent to fight adult-Ladybug — seventeen years old, max. He’s flung through the air, baton falling down to the ground hundreds of meters below them. He lands on the metal platform of the Eiffel Tower’s highest level, bounces a bit, and fights against gravity, scrambling to find purchase to keep himself from falling. 

The cry of his name alerts the akuma, a woman obscured by hovering, rotating debri, to Ladybug’s position. In a split second, the akuma crates a dome around Ladybug, blocking her from making any advances on them. Slowly, as Ladybug is desperately pounding against the dome of rocks and steel, the akuma stalks toward Chat. He looks on in horror, his eyes widening even further when the akuma reaches down and lifts up his ring finger. 

She slowly, ever so slowly, slides the ring off, and just before the ring is off of his finger, the dome around Ladybug shatters. Ladybug races toward him, crowbar raised in offense, but she’s too late. She barely even gets time to lock eyes with Chat before the ring is off, his transformation falling away, fingers losing all purchase, and he’s falling. 

Ladybug shoves past the akuma, and dives after her partner, tears trailing behind her. She flings her yo-yo out, and watches with relief as it wraps around his waist and he grabs hold of the string. She grabs hold of a steel beam and pulls, intending to stop his descent. 

Instead, an impossibly loud “CRACK” makes everyone stop. Adrien is hanging from the yo-yo, back folded backwards unnaturally, his arm having fallen from the string. In her shock, the yoyo slackens so much that he falls the rest of the way to the ground. 

She hangs from the beam, yo-yo swinging sadly, limply from her hand, her eyes locked on her partner on the ground, his eyes frozen in fear.

Her anguished cries rattle the nearby rooftops, and those on the outskirts of the city can hear her clearly.

So great was her anguish, she doesn’t hear the Akuma victim’s screaming, presumably, at Papillon. 

She doesn’t hear the Akuma Victim’s pained screaming.

She doesn’t see the Akuma Victim get covered by black/purple bubbles

She drops down and cradles her partner in her arms, tears pouring down her face, caressing his face.

Whoever was the Akuma victim hits the ground beside her, but Ladybug doesn’t hear it or register it. 

Holding her partner in her arms, she doesn’t even flinch as a sudden, cold, dark feeling envelopes her, and a deep voice calls out to her. It sends chills down her spine, but she pays it no mind. They only important thing is her partner, 

No one notices the white butterfly flying away with the Black Cat Miraculous.

The familiar butterfly mask appears before her eyes, and Bunnyx gasps. Ladybug, at 17 years old, akumatized after her partner's tragic death. 

After a few minutes of the mask floating before her face, Ladybug mutters something, and she is immediately enveloped in purple and black bubbles. 

When the bubbles dissipate, Ladybug’s suit has become pure black, with white swirls all over it. She stands up, and immediately throws her yo-yo into the air, keeping her eyes locked on her partner’s eyes, not saying anything. Within seconds, the corrupted, dark red and white beetles swarm the city, washing over all property damages, healing wounds, bringing those who had died recently back to life. The woman who was the Akuma sits up, and looks at the Akumatized Ladybug in horror. 

“Something’s off about those beetles,” Alix musses quietly, putting her palm to the window and rewinding to the point where Akuma Ladybug’s restoration is used.

Right as the beetles are summoned, the window experiences a static burst, one that goes through every single beetle, as if they’re all glitching. And then… right in the middle, a faint, translucent, barely visible image of Chat/Adrien is being carried by the beetles. 

This… this explains so much. All the other timelines in the Burrow that have been reduced to static, they all had something to do with Chat risking himself. Even the strongest Ladybug can’t bring back the dead like this. It would take the Black Cat and the Ladybug together to do it. So, of course, the restoration is reaching through time and space to grab any Chat they can find!

Focusing back on Akuma Ladybug, Alix finds that Ladybug doesn’t care about them, she’s focused on the Adrien in front of her, whole, and alive, and well. 

But Alix can tell that something is off here. Something will go wrong. You can’t just… you can’t just grab someone from a different timeline and stuff them into the body of another version from another timeline. 

Ladybug immediately reaches a hand out to him, and the second her black and white glove touches his cheek, he bursts into pained screams, as bones crack and grow and shrink, breaking through the skin in jagged splinters, only to have the skin heal over it. He drops to the ground, writhing in pain, but his smirk is still on his face, which has remained unchanged. His eyes scream at her to end it, but they also hold no spark in them. He tries to speak, croaking out a simple, hoarse, weak: “Thank you, Milady, you always fix me right up.”

Horror envelopes her features, consuming all hope, creating nightmares, that will likely last for a lifetime. 

The Akuma Ladybug drops to the ground, sobbing, and crawls toward her broken, misshapen shell of her former partner. 

She rests a hand on his cheek again, and despite leaning into it, she can tell that he is in immeasurable pain. 

“I’m so sorry, chaton,” she says, before lifting her hand, dark energy forming around her hand. Alix looks away, tuning out the timeline. She’s seen a lot through the burrow, but nothing amounts to this level of cruelty and anguish. 

Alix only looks back when she hears angry, heartbroken screaming. Akumatized Ladybug is looking at the sky, fists clenched, body tense, as the shouts into the violet butterfly mask above her eyes. Calling him a coward, a murderer. Almost immediately after that, her hands fly to her head as she doubles over, crying out in pain. But, just as soon, she snaps upright, her eyes burning white with intense hatred and determination. She mutters something, then the Butterfly mask snaps in two. With the symbol gone, she is enveloped in purple and black bubbles once more, but those bubbles soon turn red and black, and when those bubbles fade, a different Akuma Ladybug stands where the Papillon controlled one once stood. 

This new woman is wearing the amazon warrior suit that she saw earlier. 

She looks off in the distance, locking onto something. “Oh, Le Papillon, I will show you just how scary the full extent of Creation’s wrath can be. And I, the new and improved Warriorbug, will savor  _ every. Single. Moment. _ You will pay for the murder of my partner, and for the theft of his ring.”

With that, Warriorbug creates a staff, one that looks similar to Chat’s, and launches herself off into the distance. 

Warriorbug spends the next ten years searching for where Le Papillon could be, purifying all the akuma he sends out to retrieve her miraculous. And, when a tall, white-haired imposter with ice for eyes shows up to take her down she promptly sends his knock-off, poorly designed, simple suit flying. She also may have impaled it with multiple spears. But, no matter how many times The Imposter shows up, no matter how many times she gets this close to killing it, it always gets away and comes back as good as new, well as good as a poorly made knock-off can be. And yet, for some reason, Le Papillon and The Imposter are never out at the same time. 

She casts the cure every morning. After each time she purifies a corrupted butterfly, she casts her cure. She casts her cure in the hopes that one day, maybe, it will finally work and she’ll have her partner back fully. And not that monstrosity. That her kitty will be by her side once more, like he promised to always be. But each time she does, she goes through the pain of watching her partner go through immeasurable pain. 

She’ll find The Imposter, and she’ll get the ring back. She’ll bring her kitty back, no matter the stakes.

* * *

This is by far the weirdest akuma Adrien has ever seen, if not the strongest. 

After being flung through the window (thanks, Bunnyx) he hits the ground hard, the metal bowl getting flung from his head haphazardly. While his eyes were adjusting to the light around him, and to not being blocked by a bowl, some strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him close to their chest, just like a parent who lost their child would. And, this person very clearly has some… motherly features. Of which they are pressing his head to quite tightly, while whispering: “I found you”, “It worked, it finally worked”, and “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay Kitty. I got you now.”

He tried to push back against this person, _ no one _ calls him kitty except for his lady, no one. Plus, the current position isn’t much better, he’s fighting against the blush that wants to envelope his entire face, ears and neck. But they only held him tighter, which makes it harder to fight the blush and awkwardness. They go silent and after a second, their breath starts to speed up, and something wet hits his head.  _ ‘Are… is this person _ _ — _ _ are they crying?’ _

But, to be completely honest, the hug feels so incredibly nice, even if it is making it a bit harder for him to breathe. He doesn’t really remember the last time he was hugged this tightly. Not since Mother died. 

Then, something startles this person, and they let go of him in favor of standing between them and the threat. Which just so happens to be Ladybug, come to save the day, just like she always does. He has to fight everything in his body that is telling him to go to Ladybug, it’s as if he’s being pulled apart at the seams by not going to her, so instead, he’ll lean toward her, and let out a quiet sigh of relief. 

Ladybug is standing there, in all her glory. The sun hitting her hair in just the right way to show off her wonderfully raven colored hair. Her yo-yo is already unslung, hanging from her hand like a wrecking ball, waiting for the perfect moment to be unleashed. Her face showing determination and anger and... confusion? But it’s the type of confusion that always leads to a plan! Ladybug always has a plan.

Tearing his eyes away from Ladybug, he finally gets to look at the person who was cradling him just moments before. 

And, the first thing he notices is that whoever they are, they appear to be a woman. Immediately, Adrien is struggling to keep the blush that is fighting for control over his entire body at bay. 

This woman stands just a few centimeters taller than Ladybug, and seems to be dressed in a suit colored a deep red, almost crimson, if not maroon. 

She’s standing in a power stance, and if he had to guess, she has her eyes locked onto Ladybug’s. She drops a yo-yo of her own, one that is pure scarlet, and starts to swing it into a shield, like Ladybug normally does whenever she’s trying to protect something or herself. 

Her hair, which is of a familiar shade of raven blue, is pulled and weaved into a braid that wraps around her head. She’s wearing a black, skin-tight suit, with a scarlet breastplate, forearm guards, gloves, shin guards and steel toed boots. She’s wearing a skirt that looks to be made of sheets of hardened leather-like material, like the skirt Wonder Woman wears in that American superhero movie, and is a deep maroon. 

She’s wearing a jacket that looks to be made of the same material as her warrior’s skirt, as well as the same shade. The sleeves come down to her elbows, and the bottom of the jacket hangs at just above the warrior’s skirt. 

Something about this warrior lady is familiar, he just can’t place why for the life of him. 

The warrior lady shifts, and Ladybug shrinks in on herself a bit, but then, her eyes lock onto something on the Lady’s face.

He follows her gaze.

Why is Ladybug looking at the warrior lady’s earring — …Oh.

_ Oh no. _

Adrien glances to Ladybug, locking onto the red and black studs sitting on her ears, then back to the lady’s earrings. 

There is no mistaking it.

They’re the Ladybug Miraculous. 

This is Ladybug  _ akumatized _ . 

How… how are they going to do anything against her? She’s  _ Ladybug _ , and looking at her, she seems to be an adult, and is akumatized. She’s  _ much _ more powerful than he ever could be. The Ladybug he knows is more powerful than he is, he doesn’t stand a chance if she gets akumatized. But Adult Ladybug, who is  _ already  _ akumatized?

They’re doomed. 

He looks to his Ladybug, and tries to keep down his terror. It looks like she’s coming to the same conclusion. 

Then, she looks to him and he immediately schools his expression. She looks scared and terrified, but looking at him, he can see that start to ebb away. And this calms him slightly. Ladybug always has a plan. She’ll find a way to save her future self. She’ll save the day no matter what. He believes in her. She can do this. 

He stares into her eyes, hoping he gets this across. 

Ladybug nods, determination shining in her eyes. And he knows that it is only a matter of time until AkumaBug is defeated. 

Ladybug nods a second time, then turns her gaze back to AkumaBug.

A baton appears in AkumaBug’s hand out of nowhere. 

Before Ladybug can do anything, AkumaBug’s yo-yo slams into her sternum with enough force to send her flying off the edge of the roof, and Adrien scrambles to his feet to get a visual on her, but before he can, AkumaBug wraps him in a hug again, and slams her baton into the roof and sends them flying over the next few rooftops. 

All the while, AkumaBug is muttering about how Hawkmoth has gone too far with this akuma, “creating a clone of her younger self from before it happened” and about how she “won’t go easy on this akuma, they won’t retain any damage, so why not blow off some steam?”

They land and she sets him down, squeezing him once again, before she turns around and locks onto the swinging form of his Ladybug. 

A growl escapes from her throat, and she launches toward Ladybug, a spear appearing in her hands poised to strike Ladybug. 

Without thinking, he flings his baton at AkumaBug, and is relieved to see that it strikes her hand and makes her miss Ladybug, who immediately drops to the ground, out of sight. 

AkumaBug lands and whips around to look at him, fury in her eyes. “Oh, Kitty, you should  _ not  _ have done that.”

He shrinks back at the cold, blue fury in her eyes, locked onto him. Judging him. Blaming him. Suddenly, words from his nightmares flash through his mind:  _ ‘You’re  _ **_useless_ ** _. All you  _ **_ever_ ** _ do is distract me. You’re a  _ **_hindrance_ ** _. You help out the  _ **_akuma_ ** _ more than you do me. Whoever gave you that ring made a  _ **_mistake_ ** _.’ _

Adrien wraps his arms around his chest, digging his claws into his triceps, averting his gaze from AkumaBug, doing his best to keep those thoughts away. “Ladybug isn’t like that. Ladybug wouldn’t say that.” he repeats over and over under his breath. 

Suddenly, a hand rests on his face and he flinches back, a yelp escaping his throat, arms moving to push against whatever put their hand on him. But, another hand catches his hands and pulls them to his chest, simultaneously pulling him to them again. 

They’re whispering things. Words he can’t hear. Can’t register. All he can hear is the nightmare. All he can see is Ladybug looking at him in disgust. Anger. Judgment.  _ Disappointment _ . 

There is another flash of red, and he flinches again, trying to block out the images of a nightmare Ladybug flinging her hands at him. Pinning him to the ground, the hand with his miraculous pinned painfully to his back, his fingers being pried from the fist he curled them into, the cracking of bones as his fingers strain and break against Ladybug’s superior strength. 

_ ‘Stupid.’  _

_ ‘Burden.’ _

_ ‘Useless.’ _

**‘Weak.’**

**_‘Coward’_ ** _. _

Adrien tries for what feels like hours, days,  _ years _ , to get away from those thoughts, and when he does, he’s greeted by the sight of Ladybug fighting a losing battle against AkumaBug. 

He looks around, and is relieved to find his baton by his feet. He picks it up and splits it in two. There is no time to focus on the fake, the dreams. No time for emotions. There is an insanely strong akuma, and he’s been out for most of the fight. It’s about time he does  _ something _ . 

“Hey bugaboo!” he shouts, flinging his baton right at AkumaBug. Both Ladybug and AkumaBug turn to him, and Adrien smiles as his baton slams right into AkumaBug’s sternum. She doubles over, and he looks to his Lady, nodding for her to get away. 

As Ladybug starts to swing away, and AkumaBug regains her bearings, he flings his second baton at her, knocking her back a couple steps. He expertly grabs his baton from the air as it comes flying back at him and extends it to staff length. 

When AkumaBug stands back up, the fury in her eyes has doubled,  _ tripled _ , and despite what he’s told himself before, that he won’t let her get to him again, she burns through all his defenses. Her eyes burn right into his soul and he freezes, body locking up due to the rage  _ pouring  _ from her eyes. 

Then, suddenly, he’s against the wall, hands behind his back, tied together by a steel cable. He tries to move his arms, but soon finds that there are steel cables that are binding his arms to his side. And binding his feet and legs together.

AkumaBug is standing above him, hands clenched into fists, looking down at him with stern disappointment. Just like Father. 

Just like the nightmares.

“Look what you’ve done  _ now _ .” she says, anger in her voice, making him curl up against the wall as well as the cables allow him to. He averts his eyes again, keeping them on the ground, his leather clad feet,  _ anything  _ but AkumaBug. 

He can  _ feel _ the anger radiating off of her. It’s a different anger from Father’s. It’s red hot and boiling, melting whatever is in her way. Father’s is.. it’s cold, sub zero, distanced, freezing, and will shatter anything he deems is unfit. 

A huff sounds from above, and then a baton slams down on the roof, making him jump and shake. He looks around at the sudden noise, and he finds Ladybug and Akumabug to be locked in battle, one that Ladybug is losing; and he can’t do anything. 

_‘Of course,’_ the words ring through his head, a combination of Plagg from the Aspik timeline during Dedperada, Nightmare Ladybug, Fu, and Father. **‘Of course** _you were incapacitated. You are_ **nothing** _but a burden. A setback. A hindrance. All you ever do are stupid, reckless,_ **brainless** _stunts. You leave Ladybug to fight by herself. You are supposed to be her partner. And yet, you let emotions get to you. You become_ **overdramatic**. _You make her worry about you so much that she can’t focus on the battle.’_ Adrien drops his head, letting his body fall sideways to the ground. There’s nothing he can do to stop the voice. Nothing at all. And why would he want to? What it’s saying is true. _‘You are_ **useless** _to her, you do more to help Papillon then you do to help your own side. You don’t_ **deserve** _the ring._

He’ll never be the partner Ladybug needs. 

Suddenly, a shiver wracks his whole body, setting all his hairs on end, (His hair probably looks like an utter mess. Father would have a heart attack if he ever saw it) his ears perk up, and his senses heighten. He looks around for the source of his discomfort, and he locks onto Ladybug, whose gaze is locked on him.

She’s standing with her arms crossed above her head, back arching toward the ground, legs shaking. Meanwhile, AkumaBug is standing right in front of Ladybug, spear pushing down on Ladybug’s arms, the blade in just the right position to get embedded into her skull. AkumaBug doesn’t seem to be having much trouble pushing against Ladybug’s strength. 

Ladybug is fighting a losing battle. 

And he can do  _ nothing  _ but watch.

He doesn’t have a second chance.

And all the while, AkumaBug has been seething at Ladybug, hissing “How could you let it happen?”, “This is all your fault”, “You could have saved him!” and “You don’t deserve him!”

Adrien has no idea what AkumaBug is talking about, and he’s sure that Ladybug knows just as much as he does, but AkumaBug doesn’t know that. They can’t let AkumaBug go on much longer. It isn’t healthy to be an akuma for extended periods of time. And they have no clue how long she’s been an akuma for.

...But, he can’t do anything. 

Adrien averts his gaze again, looking at the cables binding his feet in shame. 

He’s  _ useless _ . 

He’ll be forced to watch Ladybug’s death again.

Just like with Desperada. 

...Just like Desperada.

He looks back up to Ladybug, locking his gaze with hers.  _ No _ . no, he won’t just stand by and watch her die. He won’t fail her for the 25,914th time. 

He struggles against the steel cables, not caring about the pain that goes shooting through his arms and legs, enveloping his entire body. It’s  _ irrelevant _ . Ladybug needs him. She needs his help and yet he’s  _ stuck _ on the ground, staring at a future version of Ladybug, fury and pain pouring from her very being, getting closer and closer to braining her younger self. 

He scoffs, pushing against the cables again, not hearing them groan and strain,  _ ‘Avatar of Destruction. As  _ **_if_ ** .  _ No Avatar of Destruction is kept incapaciated by some steel cables.’ _

He pushes even harder against the cables as he sees Ladybug’s strength start to wane. If only he had been  _ smarter _ , if he had been  _ faster _ ,  _ stronger _ , he could still be helping out Ladybug instead of being  _ stuck on the ground.  _

_ Pathetic _ . 

If he can just break the cables, get a hand on them and call for a cataclysm, he can try to tire her out. AkumaBug knows all of Ladybug’s moves and how she thinks (going by the hair style, the blue of her eyes, the way she speaks, moves, it’s everything that Ladybug is, but she’s fueled by anger, and hurt, and whatever situation got her akumatized in the first place.) but, Ladybug also knows how Chat fights. She knows how he operates. If he’s going to be of any help, he needs to figure out how to be unpredictable. But… Ladybug is the master strategist. She’d be able to predict his every move. 

He’s completely useless in this fight. Why’d Bunnyx even bring him along. It’s not like she believes in him very much in the first place. 

But,  _ Ladybug  _ believes in him, and as long as she does, that’s all that he needs. He pushes against the cables with all his might, desperately wishing to  _ do something. _

Then, suddenly, in the blink of an eye, AkumaBug drops through the ground and slams into the side of the roof, just a meter from him. He looks at Ladybug, who seems just as shocked as he is. But she isn’t looking at him, she’s looking at a rapidly shrinking black spot on the ground. 

_ ‘Who… who did that?’ _

Ladybug looks at him, relief clear in her eyes, but she doesn’t move, and AkumaBug is starting to get back up. He nods to her, fighting the cables again.  _ ‘GO’  _ he wants to scream, but the fear of AkumaBug keeps his lips sealed. 

Luckily, whatever Ladybug sees in his eyes portrays what he’s thinking and she shoots off into the distance again. 

_ ‘She’ll come back, _ ’ Adrien tells himself.  _ ‘Ladybug won’t just abandon me. She’ll have a plan. She’ll figure out how to win. She always does. I’m just here to give her the time she needs. The time she needs to shine.’ _

AkumaBug stands up, and brushes herself off, looking around the rooftops, probably searching for Ladybug. She sighs and mutters something about an “Imposter”, and turns to him. Instinctively, he curls in on himself again. Turning away from her. But she keeps coming to him, even as an involuntary growl/whine escapes his throat. She rests her hands on his shoulders, and he almost bolts right then. Almost bites her hands. 

But, he can’t sense any anger in her. Not at him. Not at the moment. She pulls him to her chest again, and he goes stiff. Why does she do this? Does she not know how awkward it makes him?

While she’s cradling him again, he struggles against the cables, trying to be subtle. But it doesn’t seem to matter, it doesn’t look like he’ll burst these cables. Or that she would notice him trying, what with the tears rolling down her face and soaking his hair, and her wetly mumbled mantra of: “It worked… It finally worked.”

Then, she tightens her arms around him, making the cables dig in even deeper, restricting his breath. “Can’t — breathe — ” he croaks out, and AkumaBug immediately jumps back, her eyes going wide with horror. 

She stands there for a second, her eyes widening further and further, guilt and pain and horror filling her being. Then, suddenly, she starts smacking the side of her head over and over, loud, painful cracks sounding off from each blow. 

“Hey! Hey, stop!  _ Stop _ !” he cries, horrified, trying to go to her, grab her wrists, her ankle, her elbow, anything to get her to stop beating herself up. But he can’t move, the cables restricting his every move. 

But, surprisingly enough, his voice is enough to get her to stop. She freezes, her hand halfway to her head. Brow furrowed. 

“What are you doing? Why’d you do that?” he asks, slumping against the wall again, he isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Might as well try to talk her down. Find out a way to de-escalate everything. 

“I…” AkumaBug trails off, looking at him. “I hurt you… again…” she tears her eyes away from him, looking down at her feet as she fiddles with her fingers. 

“Hey… it’s okay-”

“ _ No _ ! It’s not! I hurt you. I hurt you again… I always hurt you.”

“You really think that? Ladybug…”

AkumaBug whips her head up, looking into his eyes, anger flaring. He shrinks into a ball once more. 

Immediately, the anger dies down and AkumaBug runs to him, enveloping him in a tight hug, but not as tight as before. “I’m sorry… I didn't mean to look at you like that. I just… I don't like that name.”

“O-okay, what do you want to be called then?”

“Warriorbug.”

“Okay Warriorbug, okay, do... Do you want to talk about it?”

“I- do… do you not remember?” she asks, pulling away from him, staring into his eyes. 

“Remember... what?”

“The Fall? What- What I did?”

“La- Warriorbug, what do you mean?”

She pulls back fully, letting go of him in favor of wrapping her arms around herself. “You... you aren’t him. Are you?”

“Not who?” Adrien asks, wanting to go hug her, because damn it, she needs a hug. 

“You aren’t my Kitty, are you?” She looks at him, the pain in her eyes consuming everything in her. Pouring out of her eyes, her very soul wilting before his eyes. For her to be this distraught, something  _ really  _ bad must have happened. She must have lost a family member, or a close friend. But… if she’s reacting this way toward him… Something really bad must have happened to this Ladybug’s Chat Noir. 

“I’m not your Kitty, is that… is that why you’re akumatized?” the realization hits him hard, tears building in his eyes

At Warriorbug’s sad, almost imperceivable nod, his heart breaks just that much more. 

“Can… can I ask… what happened?”

Warriorbug closes her eyes. “It’s a long, painful story, I can't get into it. I don't want to get into it. I’m sorry, Adrien.”

Adrien freezes. She… she knows his name. Why does she know his name? How… she, she was… 

_ ‘No, no, a different time. She’s suffering, not the time to interrogate her.’ _ He tells himself, squashing down that thought. 

He pushes against the wall, ignoring the pain, the cold spreading from his arms, his wrists. He pushes to his knees, and cringes as the cold feeling is now in his thighs and the cold in his arms has become white hot. “Hey, come here. Do you want a hug?”

“Please?”

She falls to her knees and shuffles over to him, her arms snaking around him. She pulls him tight against her, but instead of his head on her chest, she rests her head on his shoulder, sobbing, clutching at him as if he would disappear at any moment. 

Which might have actually happened in this timeline. 

After a few minutes, WarriorBug starts to speak again. Telling him that he’s “irreplaceable” and a “very, very crucial part of her.” Of their partnership.

He hears her, and while it does make his heart warm, he can’t believe it. She’s an akuma. She has had her mind warped by Hawkmoth. Her emotions are all out of whack. She may believe it to be true, but that doesn’t mean that it is.

“I’m not all that important, you know.” he says, ducking his head. “I mean, look at you, you’re so strong, you’re fighting so well without me-him.”

Warriorbug rears back, pushing him against the wall. “Don’t. You.  _ Ever _ . Say something like that again!” she shrieks at him. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to give up! How many nights I’ve been kept awake by the memory of your voice! Your  _ body _ ? Do you know how many akuma have gone on a rampage for a week because I couldn’t muster up the courage, the motivation, to fight them? Because I couldn't figure out how to take them down?  _ No _ ! You don’t, because you’re  _ dead _ !” By the end of her speech, she’s holding him by his shoulders, and shaking him. Her eyes go misty, voice soft. “You left me, you left me all alone, and you didn’t come back. You’ve been dead for  _ 10 years _ ! So many people have died because you aren’t here. They’re only alive because I brought them back. That’s why almost no one is in Paris anymore. I drove them all away. Because I couldn’t save them all.”

Ten… ten years… 

Dead.

For _ten_ _years_. 

Adrien falls against the wall, all the fight having left him. 

Ten years… he’s been dead for ten years. Thousands of people have died because he died. 

Even in death he’s useless. 

Suddenly, a hand smacks his head, whipping it to the side. “ _ Don’t _ . Do. That.” she says, chest heaving. “Don’t. Think that.”

“I — ”

“Don’t.” she says, narrowing her eyes. “You forget, I know you. I know how you think. I can see it in your eyes. Don’t. Think. Like. That.”

He averts his gaze once more. Shutting her out. Shutting out the outside world. Shutting down his thoughts. Soon enough, he’s just… there. Nothing is going through his mind. 

Then, a blur of red appears, and he snaps back to reality. 

Warriorbug is hugging him again, whispering how sorry she is, and Ladybug is just standing on the edge of the roof, looking at them, frozen. And… smiling?

_ ‘Why is she smiling?’ _ He can’t help but wonder.

A second later, Warriorbug freezes, stiffening, before slowly straightening up; releasing him from her hold. She stays standing in front of him, as if protecting him, and turns around. Leaning to the side, Adrien sees Ladybug shrink into herself a little bit, her shoulders raising a few inches, her back arching slightly, knees wobbling. 

He’s never seen Ladybug like this before, so terrified of an akuma, she’s always had this fire to her, one that could never be extinguished. Except for that one time with Miracle Queen and Hawkmoth. That was the day he truly resolved to always be there to support her, as either a friend or not, he would always be there for her. She has so much on her plate, no matter how strong she is, she needs someone to help lift the weights on her shoulders. 

And now… now he can’t do anything about it. 

He’s supposed to be her partner, he’s the one who can afford to take the hits, he isn’t crucial enough to the fight for his being incapaciated to make the fight difficult. He never has been. His lady has always been the stronger one of the two of them. He’s just always been the distraction, give her the time to create a plan, to figure out how to take down the akuma. 

But he can’t do that right now, not while he’s still wrapped up in these cables. 

He’s so useless like this.

He pushes against the cables as the two women stare each other down, neither of them making a move, though it looks like Ladybug is losing the battle. He pushes harder, and  _ harder _ , pushing past the pain, the cold, because he can’t just sit here and  _ mope _ . 

He needs to do  _ something _ . 

Adrien grips his hands, pushing his hands against the other, his hands and arms shaking, his muscles straining against the cables. The whining and creaking of the metal going unheard. 

He stares at Ladybug, hoping,  _ wishing _ , that she will look his way, catch his eye; that she’ll catch her stride once more. 

No one notices the black energy enveloping his hands, or how the ground beneath himself has developed cracks. 

Then, as though she heard his silent pleas, Ladybug looks to him, and their eyes lock. Her eyes soften, showing how unsure she is, how saddened she is. 

_ ‘You can do anything, My Lady,’ _ Adrien thinks, hard, toward her; hoping his eyes convey exactly what he’s thinking. 

For a second, Ladybug seems confused, then, her eyes soften impossibly more, and then flash of that familiar fire, that unbeatable determination. That look that says ‘Nothing’s going to stop me.’

He smiles, and relaxes a little bit. When she gets that look in her eyes, the fight is sure to be over soon. 

Ladybug looks back to Warriorbug, and not even a second after their eyes make contact, a heavy looking, metal ball is launched at Ladybug, which she just barely manages to move her head out of the way to avoid getting her head smashed in, but in doing so, left herself open for Warriorbug to dart in close and land a solid punch on her, pushing her back a few meters; making her double over as she opens her mouth in a silent gasp. 

Warriorbug uses Ladybug’s momentary breathlessness to create a large metal pole and slams it into Ladybug’s side, flinging her into a chimney, cracking a large section of the bricks. Adrien’s shout goes unnoticed as Warriorbug walks toward Ladybug, the pole morphing into a spear. 

Adrien struggles against the cables again, his hearing zeroing in on Ladybug’s breath; the slow, deliberate steps from Warriorbug; the scraping of the spear head against the shingles. His vision tunnels, everything but the two red clad women dimming, becoming irrelevant, unimportant. The pain shooting through his arms, wrists, legs, and ankles is nothing but a hurdle to jump over. Nothing but a stupid blockade. A boundary set by irrelevant evolutionary traits. He ignores the cold creeping through his body, seizing his breath, the cold has never bothered him before, why let it bother him now?

He doesn’t hear the creaking and cracking of the metal, the crackling of black energy creeping up his hand, slowly making its way toward the cables on his wrist. 

If only he could do something to help out, instead of sitting on the ground like an  _ idiot _ , a useless pile of unimportant flesh and magic. The most important people in his life may think he’s nothing more than a hindrance, a burden, a weakling, but he’ll prove them wrong. He’ll prove to them that he’s worthy of this miraculous. 

Then, there’s a crack of thunder as black lightning shoots from his hand, which is pressed against the ground, it surrounds Warriorbug, who stops her steady pursuit of Ladybug, and in the blink of an eye, the black bolts merge into a solid circle of darkness beneath Warriorbug’s feet, and then Warriorbug is gone. 

Adrien slumps against the wall again, suddenly exhausted, his arms and legs aching painfully; his hands shaking tremendously. “Ladybug…” he calls out, his voice hoarse and weak. 

There is no response. This worries him. 

“Ladybug, hey!” He tries again, forcing himself through the stabbing pain in his throat that spikes every time he swallows. 

Still no response. 

He looks to the cables on him, and barely suppresses a gasp. 

The cables, once shining as if they were freshly woven from silver strands, are cracked and dull, as if they had aged decades. His hands are free, and covered in a fine layer of dust. 

He struggles against the binds again, and is happy to note that the cables loosen enough to fall from his chest to his sternum. He pushes his arms out to the side once more, and reaches his hands underneath the cables to try and push them up. After a few minutes of heavy breathing, swearing, and failed attempts, he finally gets the cables up and off of his arms, resting around his neck. He stays like this for a short minute before he chucks the cables off the side of the roof and sets to work on the cables binding his ankles and legs; all the while, he’s frantically calling out to Ladybug, getting more and more worried the longer she doesn’t respond. 

By the time all the cables have been removed from his body, Adrien is huffing and wheezing, his wrists stiff and aching, his arms and legs bruised and screaming at him to sit down and  _ stay _ down; but Ladybug isn’t responding and he needs to make sure she’s doing okay; so he slowly makes his way over to Ladybug.

He reaches her, and slowly, painstakingly lifts himself up so that he’s sitting against the wall, cradling her head in his arms. “Ladybug, hey, wake up.” he whispers, brushing his right hand against her cheek. Being this close to her, he can hear her shallow breathing. It’s faint, but at least she’s breathing. 

A second later, two boots land with a heavy “thunk” and a growled out “Kitty, I am  _ so _ disappointed in you.” Adrien involuntarily shrinks into himself, curling his legs up to his chest, bringing Ladybug with him, and he ducks his head into his raised shoulders. 

“S-stop,” he whimpers out, not able to speak any louder, fighting every single self deprecating thought racing through his mind at her simple remark, bracing himself for more words thrown at him; turning his head down to bury it in Ladybug’s hair. 

He waits for a minute, but soon realizes that Warriorbug has taken no more steps toward them, and when he looks back up, Warriorbug is staring at him, tears in her eyes, any weapon she could have been wielding before is nowhere in sight.

When their gazes meet, it seems to break whatever trance Warriorbug was in and she collapses to the ground, sobbing. 

Adrien freezes, he.... He doesn’t know what to do. How… How does one console someone having a breakdown? How does one console an adult having a breakdown. How does one console an akuma?

“H-hey, do… do you w-want a hug?” he offers, uncertain whether she’d snap at him again or not. 

Warriorbug looks up to him, her eyes red and puffy, and her face flushed, but she looks hesitant. He can see it in her eyes, sense it in the way her heart beats ever so slightly faster. How she leans away from him. She’s afraid to hurt him again. 

“Hey, come here.” He shifts Ladybug in his lap so he’s cradling her head to his chest with his right hand, freeing his left hand. He reaches his hand to Warriorbug, beckoning her to come. 

Reluctantly, she does, giving him more than enough time to take back his invitation. He doesn’t. She’s a fully grown, mentally unstable, Ladybug, who is much stronger than both him and Ladybug at their peak performance. It’s best not to fight, but to instead comfort her, get her to understand. 

After a few tense seconds, Warriorbug settles into his side, resting her head on his shoulder as silent tears fall down her face. He wraps his arm around her, and pulls her against him. 

They stay like this for a long while, no one saying anything. After who knows how long, Ladybug wakes up, and her eyes are dilated, and it looks like she’s having a hard time focusing on anything. 

“Warriorbug,” he looks to the older woman, who has gone silent, staring at Ladybug, “you’ve been akumatized, your mind is unstable, and has been through so much emotional stress over the last 10 years. You deserve to rest. I’m so sorry that you have been through this. Please, let us help you.”

A broken sob escapes from her mouth. “It’s been so long. I.. I don't think I know  _ how _ to rest.”

“You're not alone anymore. You don’t have to deal with it anymore. Let us help you, please.”

Warriorbug looks to Ladybug, and then back up to Adrien, her eyes uncertain, wary, but so, so drained. She seems to fight against wanting to continue the way she is, and wanting to let go of it all. 

In the end, she sighs, and takes out her yoyo, and hands it to him. 

“Thank you, truly. I’m so, so sorry this happened. We’ll make it right. I promise.” He takes the yoyo, and turns to ladybug, gently touching her shoulder. “You ready, bug?” 

She turns to look at him, confusion in her eyes, but it clears away after a minute as she nods, and stands up, taking out her own yoyo. 

With one last look at Warriorbug, Adrien whispers “Cataclysm”, and watches in silent awe as the black energy bubbles and boils over the yoyo, black lightning jumping from the ring and into the yoyo before the yoyo crumbles to dust; the purple butterfly fluttering out of the dust. 

They look back to Warriorbug, tears are falling down her face again as the purple bubbles envelope her, and once they're gone, an adult Ladybug is laying down on the ground. 

In one quick, silent swipe, the butterfly is captured and released, and the cure cast. It washes over him, taking away the cold and the pain; The little beetles wash over Ladybug and Adrien is immensely relieved to see that she stands up straighter, and her eyes are more focused than before. They watch as the beetles fly out around the city, fixing any damage it may have sustained and retained from their battle, replacing people, cars, anything and everything as time is seemingly reverted. Then, they come back to wash over Adult Ladybug and then soon disperse into nothing. Leaving a younger Ladybug, one who looks to be no older than 16. 

HIs ladybug walks over to her future version and pulls her into a hug, they share some words, and he turns away, he’s not meant to be part of their conversations. 

He’s not meant to be part of any of Ladybug’s conversations. 

He notes, sadly, that this timeline’s Chat hasn’t been brought back.

Soon enough, Bunnyx’s portal opens up, and she walks through, a smile on her face. She takes a glance at him, and gives him a thumbs up. She turns to Ladybug, and says “Good job, Minibug! Let’s get you two home!”

Both Ladybug’s share a confused look with the other, but Adrien pays it no mind at all. All he does is take the metal bowl that the cure brought back to them and places it on his head as he steps into the portal, and then waits for Ladybug to come guide him back home. 

Soon enough, a hand grabs his own and they’re walking. 

All the while, he’s fighting the urge to listen to those horrible thoughts, he’s fighting the memories of nightmares, of watching his partner die 25,913 times, of hearing Plagg mock his choice 25,912 times. He fights the memory of Fu taking his miraculous without explanation. The thoughts that tell him that he’s unworthy of the ring he wears. He fights the way the ring seems cold and heavy on his finger. 

He doesn’t know how long it takes for them to get back to their timeline, but the next thing he knows, the metal bowl is lifted from his head and he’s on a rooftop with Ladybug by his side. 

“Thank you, Chat.” Ladybug says, squeezing his hand, which she hasn’t let go of, for some reason. 

“For… what?” he asks, looking down at their still intertwined hands. 

Ladybug doesn’t seem to notice that they’re still holding hands. “For everything you do. You’re priceless.”

“Father would disagree,” Adrien mutters.

“What was that?”

He looks to her, and takes in her curious gaze. He stares for a second, before shaking his head, turning to face the horizon. “Nothing, nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“...Chat” She reaches out a hand to touch his chin, her fingers sending a chill down his spine and through his tail. “Talk to me?”

He opens his mouth to respond, but his ring beeps, and he looks down. When did he get to 1 pad? He looks back to her, planning on telling her he’s fine and needs to go recharge. But she’s already released his hand and speaking before he can get out a breath.

“5 minutes, at the usual place. Please?”

“I — yeah, sure.”

Ladybug touches his chin once more and then launches off toward their usual patrol meeting spot. 

He stares after her, even as his transformation falls and Plagg lands haphazardly in his hair, whining about how hungry he is. His body is on autopilot as he takes out a few pieces of cheese and hands it to the little god. His eyes never leaving the direction Ladybug went off in. 

“She’s acting strange.” Adrien says after a few seconds. 

“ _ She’s _ acting strange? Kid, I’m  _ eating cheese _ in your  _ hair _ , and you haven’t said anything about that, what’s up with  _ you _ ?” Plagg retorts, crawling through his hair until he’s looking down into Adrien’s face upside down. 

“Nothing’s wrong with me, Plagg.”

“Uhhh-huhhhhh, yeah, sure. Are we gonna go or not?” Plagg rolls his eyes, then crawls back into his hair. 

It takes Adrien a moment to respond, but when he does, he does so with a shake of his head and a call of “Claws out”, and then he’s off, bounding across rooftops at speeds that no human can naturally move at. 

Within minutes, he’s at their usual place, a nondescript, abandoned rooftop. When he lands, he finds Ladybug already sitting there, her legs swinging off the edge of the roof, the moon hitting her hair at such an angle that it makes it shine a beautiful blue. He stays there a moment, just watching her, debating on whether she actually wants to talk with him. She’s never done this before, usually after patrol or an attack, they both go straight home. This is highly unusual. 

Does… does she want to tell him that he could have done better in the attack against Warriorbug? Is she finally siding with Fu and deciding to take away the ring, give it to someone else who’s more suited for it? 

Would she even care if he just walked-

“There you are! You’re late.” Ladybug is looking at him, her bright blue eyes locked onto his own uncertain gaze, showing no trace of malice. Not that she’s ever malicious. 

“What are you doing over there, come sit!” she pats the roof beside her, her gaze turning expectant. 

Reluctantly, he comes to sit down. 

He keeps at least a 20 centimeter distance between them, unsure whether she wants to touch him or not. After a second, Ladybug scoots closer and lays her head on his shoulder. 

She says nothing, and neither does he. He doesn’t particularly want to talk. He’s spending too much energy keeping bad thoughts away. 

After a few minutes of silence, Ladybug breaks it. “You know that you’re irreplaceable, right?”

This shocks Adrien. Does… does she not see… does she not remember, all the others? He… his throat isn’t responding. 

“Chat,” Ladybug pulls away from him, and turns his face to meet hers. “Chat, you do know this, right?” 

His lips are trembling now, and his vision is getting blurry, wet. “I- it… I… how- I…” he can’t string together any words. How can he be so pathetic, getting so emotional,  _ especially  _ in front of Ladybug. Surely she still can’t-

His thoughts are broken off as suddenly he’s pulled into a tight embrace. “I could never be able to do any of this without you, Kitty. Never.”

The tears are building up even more, making everything a blur. “B-but you have before. Every time I’m taken control of, or- or incapacitated, or- or, or when I’ve done something s-stupid. Y-you do so much without me. You do jus- just as good with any other temp as you do with me. I-I’m nothing more than a dis — ”

“Stop. Right there. Stop it.” she pulls away, and her gaze is angry and determined. He can’t help but curl in on himself, averting his gaze away from her. Hopefully the whimper that escapes his throat is softer than it sounds to him.

Almost immediately, Ladybug’s eyes soften, and the anger disperses. “Hey,” she says softly, gently touching his cheek. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry, I just get really defensive of my partner whenever anyone says anything bad about him.”

“But why?” he asks, searching her gaze for any lies, any indication that he messed up. He finds none. “Why? All I do is make stupid, reckless-“

“Ah-ah-ah, no,” Ladybug cuts in, tapping his nose. “No talking like that.” 

“But — ”

“Nope.”

He looks her in the eyes once more, and she raises her eyebrows in that ‘I dare you’ look.

“I don’t do anything — ”

“Ah, but you see, you do so much!” This time, Ladybug flicks his bell, “You distract the akuma, make them angry, which throws off their focus and their aim. You keep them from attacking random civilians by keeping their anger and focus on you.” she taps his head. “You make sure to talk to the victim after the attack is over, if I don't have time to do so, and usually, you’re right there with me while I’m talking to them too.” this time, she ruffles his hair. “You’re so brave, so trusting, so trustworthy. Sure, you’re reckless too, and it gets you into some stupid situations, but you’re brave enough to sacrafice yourself over and over and over again to help make sure that the fight can be brought to an end — ”

She cuts herself off, putting her gloved finger on his lips, as he opens his mouth to respond, because he is definitely  _ not _ brave, all those times he did that was just stupid recklessness, not bravery. 

“No one else has been like that, except for  _ maybe  _ Carapace. But even then, he isn’t  _ you _ . He’s almost purely defensive. Chat, no one is you. No one is both offensive and defensive like you are. Do I wish you would be less reckless? Yes, I  _ hate  _ watching you sacrifice yourself like this all the time. But no one else has ever been as ready to drop everything for the greater good of the battle.”

“Carapace—”

“Nope.”

“Rena—”

“No.”

“Pega—”

“No way!”

“Viper.”

“Nada.”

“Aspik?”

At this, Ladybug takes a moment. “Actually, I'm worried he’d be too similar to you. In that aspect.”

At this, he can’t help but snort, and he almost says  _ ‘of course he’s too similar to me, Aspik  _ **is** _ me!’ _ but  _ just  _ refrains from doing so. 

“Chat, I mean it. No one can replace you, ever.” Ladybug takes hold of his shoulders. “No one can ever replace you.”

“That’s a lie,” he mumbles. 

“Argh, cat, do I need to shake it into you?”, she gently shakes his shoulders, before pulling him in close, “I wouldn’t have been able to do almost anything if it weren’t for you. You’re the one who made me who I am. You keep me sane.”

She pulls back and wipes his cheek—when did he start crying?— “You’re my anchor, Chat. Always have been, always will be.”

The tears fall down his cheeks unbidden now. “R-really?”

“Really, you silly cat, you are crucial to every single battle  _ ever _ . From the very beginning to the very end. I would never have been able to do any of this without you.” she pulls him in for another tight hug. “You’re the only one  _ suited  _ for that clown outfit.”

He chuckles, the sound wet and wavering. “Did you just pun?”

“Shut up, you cat.”

This only makes him snicker. 

They stay in a silent embrace for a little bit. “Do you really mean it?” he asks, unable to keep his insecurities quiet around her at the moment. 

“Without a doubt. You terrify the dark around me with your dorkish light.” She squeezes him tighter. “Just say the word, and we’ll take on the world. We’ll face the worst,” she says, squeezing him tighter. “It’s you and me against the world, remember that. You are never alone.”

“You will never be alone as long as I am here.” 


End file.
